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Thursday, July 16, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR] Offshore forwards show the ringgit may weaken another
2.7 per cent in the next 12 months as Brent crude prices below a 10-year
average hurt export earnings, combined with controversy over a state
investment company.

Twelve-month non-deliverable forwards retreated 0.2 per cent to
3.9145 a dollar as of 11:20 am in Kuala Lumpur, data compiled by
Bloomberg show. The contracts declined to a record 3.9608 on July 8. The
onshore ringgit fell to its lowest this month since the Asian financial
crisis and is the region's worst-performing currency in 2015.

As Asia's only major net oil exporter, a 50 per cent slump in Brent
crude from last year's peak is weighing on the ringgit, just as a
looming US interest-rate increase may spur capital outflows. Investor
sentiment has also deteriorated amid a probe into funds linked to
1Malaysia Development Bhd. that has embroiled Prime Minister Najib
Razak.

"Downward pressure on oil prices, a stronger US dollar on Federal
Reserve rate hikes this year and ongoing local political news are all
weighing on ringgit forwards," said Khoon Goh, a strategist at Australia
& New Zealand Banking Group Ltd in Singapore. "I expect to see a
further weakening in the spot rate given the stronger US dollar." The
ringgit was little changed in onshore trading Thursday at 3.8070 a
dollar, and is down 0.3 per cent from July 10, according to prices from
banks compiled. It fell to the 1997-98 Asian crisis low of
3.8130 this month and has lost 8.2 per cent in 2015. Malaysian financial
markets will be shut Friday for a Muslim holiday.

SINGAPORE'S benchmark Straits Times Index opened on Thursday 9.02am
at 3,354.03 points, up 15.17 points or 0.45 per cent, after the Greek
Parliament approved a new set of austerity measures needed to qualify
for a bailout.

[SINGAPORE] Moody's Investors Service has revised its outlook for
Singapore's (Aaa stable) banking system to stable, reflecting the
domestic property market's soft landing, and moderating domestic and
cross-border credit growth. The outlook was previously negative since
July 2013.

Moody's analysis is contained in its just-published report 'Banking
System Outlook: Singapore' by Eugene Tarzimanov, a Moody's vice
president and senior credit officer.

Moody's expects that Singapore banks will continue to benefit from
healthy - although lower - economic growth both domestically and in
their regional operations. While real GDP growth in Singapore will slow
to around 3 per cent in 2015 and 2016 as a result of slower growth in
China, this will be offset somewhat by the recovering US economy.

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose by 4.7 per cent from
a year ago to S$14.2 billion in June 2015 due to an expansion in both
electronic and non-electronic exports.

This is in contrast to May, when NODX fell 0.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis to about S$13.2 billion.

IE
Singapore said on Thursday that electronic NODX grew by 7.6 per cent in
June to about S$4 billion, in contrast to the 2.5 per cent decline to
S$3.8 billion in May. The increase in electronic domestic exports was
largely due to PCs (+69.6 per cent), ICs (+10.8 per cent) and
telecommunications equipment (+79.3 per cent).

The growth in
non-electronic NODX was led by electrical machinery (+75.0 per cent),
printed matter (+35.8 per cent) and non-electric engines & motors
(+281.8 per cent).

Financial services surged 17.4 per cent in the first six months from a
year earlier, according to China's statistics authority, as exchanges
and brokerages registered surging revenue amid record trading volume. It
was the stand out industry as real estate languished and agriculture
grew at about half the overall economy's pace of 7 per cent.

The data underscores the fragility of China's growth in the quarter,
as a rout that wiped almost US$4 trillion in equity values may shake
confidence in the sector. That could dent hopes for a pick up in the
economy in the second half.

"To the extent that growth was supported by financial sector gains
from the stock market, it won't be sustained without further stimulus,"
Bloomberg economist Tom Orlik wrote in a note after the quarterly GDP
release on Wednesday.

CapitaLand's serviced residence unit, The Ascott Limited, is in a joint venture with Qatar Investment Authority to set up a US$600 million serviced residence fund with an initial focus on the Asia-Pacific and Europe regions.

Vallianz Holdings said on Monday morning that it has won a deal valued at up to US$300 million to supply two self-elevating platforms to a large national oil company in the Middle East.

Yuuzoo Corporation said on Friday it has taken legal action to collect from Infocomm Asia Holdings an outstanding debt of S$6.46 million plus interest.

Lian Beng Group on Friday announced that two of its independent directors have resigned with immediate effect "due to differences in opinion" with the board.